Cliff Lee washed his hands, grabbed his scalpel and went to work last night on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Outside of a shaky first inning, his three-hit shutout was done with surgical precision. He had a no-hitter heading into the eighth inning until I jinxed him talking about itYadier Molina found the right field corner for a double.

How good was Lee?

It took him 93 pitches, 70 of which found the strike zone. Atleast eight of those other 23 came in the first inning, when he walked Brendan Ryan and Albert Pujols.

Lee got past "The Machine" three times after that, including a popout in the top of the ninth.

It may not look like much, but the Indians may be slowly creeping back into contention. They are now six games back in a very winnable division and have won 12 of their last 20 games. The Indians have won the last three series and have won 10 of 15 at the Prog.

Picks squaring off

The Indians may have been paying a little extra attention to the College World Seris on Sunday. Top pick Alex White took the mound for UNC against the Indians second round pick, Arizona State outfielder Jason Kipnis.

Kipnis got the better end of it Sunday in the Sun Devils 5-2 win in 10 innings. He went 1-4 with a double off White and a run scored.